Sunday, November 20, 2011

Predictability ain't real life or good fiction!

Apologies people, as you can tell from the title some unexpected events have kept me from updating the blog recently; namely one laptop that first had battery failure an then just plain spazzed out. That plus the sudden demise of my contact lenses had me blind and techno-less. So in all it has been a little trying these last few days but a good reminder that life just like fiction is unpredictable and has it's high mountains mixed up with low valley's. One of the very few benefits of my week of depravity has been the chance to catch up on reading, basically with no computer or vision to speak of it was about my only option! So out came all the books I had been planning to read over the last few months but had put on the back burner. A few Diana Gabaldon ones I wanted to re-read and plenty of Nora Roberts in her other form as J.D Robb. I enjoyed them all of course as reading is pleasure in it's self but what I did start to think about is predictability. Although unlike some people I am very restrained and never jump ahead in books or read last pages, I do tend to analyze and pick the outcome or in some cases the bad guy prior to finishing which for me really ruins the book. It's not something I enjoy at all and honestly I would love to not be able to do it but in some books the predictability just flows until I reach the conclusion far before the actual book is completed. Now with all this reading done, my new contacts in place and the spare computer up and running what has been firing my writing passion is a fierce resolve not inflict the angst of predictability on my readers. So every spare minute these last few days has been fueled with 'brain planning' new twist and plot ideas for my second book, expanding and creating characters who are as diverse as reality and basically fueling the continued hunger to create something I would not only enjoy reading but also find hard to decipher before the ending. It's exciting, challenging and once again invigorating which I guess is why I love this writing thing so much! So for all you would be writers out there or just those doing the journey of life, embrace the lack of predictability in fiction and reality because the only absolutes are we were born and we will die everything else is open waiting to be written or lived!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Is it really all that bad?

I have noticed very recently that whining and whinging has almost become a competitive sport in conversation, usually reserved just for the Poms (I can say that cause I am one) the rest of the globe seems to have caught up. If you say you've had a bad day, theirs was worse or the drama was bigger, more involved and in all cases harder than what you have had to deal with. Even our kids have started this no my problem was worse routine with friends, entertaining for us as what parent doesn't love a good chuckle at the enormity of a tweens life dramas? But on a serious note it astounds me considering how good most of us have it that we can be so blatantly ungrateful. Now yes I am sure there is some truly horrid things happening to some people out there and no you are not to whom I am referring; I'm merely trying to point out to the majority of us who consider the small things disasters, that really we should spend a little more time putting things into perspective before we have the big melt down. One of my favourite movies has this brilliant quote from Angelica Houston "No matter how bad things get they can always get worse my dear" although very negative I have often thought of it when something crap has happened and I needed to deal with it. Lets face it whether we moan and whinge about something or not it still has to be dealt with and there may well be something even worse around the corner but it is our character and the excercise of just getting on with it that inevitably pull us through not how much we talk about it and drag ourselves down. Perspective is often the key to sucess and in our characters just like ourselves we must have a reasonable amount of perspective to realistically engage a reader in the problems and walk them through the experience from beginning to end, lets face it most stories have at least a few major problems. Shakespear was full of them! Diana Gaboldan's outlander series is riddled with drama right from the start, Stephanie Meyer's twilight series well it doesn't get much worse than falling in love with someone who wants to eat you does it?Karen Kingsbury, who always makes me cry, I could go on but I won't you get the point I'm sure. Drama and trouble engage's people's attention, thus the reason we all love to share it; but it must have an outcome or it's just annoying noise in real life and in our fiction books. Back to real life for a second I guess the point I'm trying to make is you are not the only one who has walked that walk so look around you at those who have survived, take courage from them and others who have perservered in even harder circumstances. But most importantly "carpe diem, sieze the day" life it too short to spend whinging and moaning, not living! Have a great week people! Isobial :)

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Is your heart really where your time is spent?

On numerous occassions lately I have heard people state that your treasure is where your heart is or your heart lies where you spend your time and I totally agree in most instances with these statements, but so often I find myself doing things which I wish I didn't have to and yet they are done because they are required. I mean who ever said to themselves "yes today I am going to clean the toilet because I love to do it!" If you have please see your nearest health professional, it's just not right! The general notion though of having something so important to you that your heart and time are entwined with it is not a new one infact it has been the basis of most romance novels and movies for years. The less commercially attractive but equally realistic version of this would also be your family and friendships as I am sure most of us would prefer to spend time with our nearest and dearest more often than we do, for most of us this is not a chore but a joy. Sometime I guess we do these things that we don't want to for those people in our lives we care about and other times maybe we should just learn to say the big NO! On the weekend a very wise young man talked to us about our idols, not the crazy gem encrusted things from tv but the things that take our time and efforts away from what should be our main focus. Things like our jobs, sports,shopping, clubs, t.v, facebook, internet etc Each of these things can distract and take us away from the more important roles in our lives which for me is my faith in God, my family, my friends and my writing. For you it maybe different things but the model still remains the same. If we let distraction and the love of these lesser things become more important maybe even enough to take over; then those we love and eventually ourselves are the ones that will suffer for it. If you get the chance to check out the preach Brian Sumners Sunday 30th October at Nowra City Church it rocked! For me it's all about perspective as a Christian, wife, mother, daughter, friend and writer. As long as I keep my perspective of what is really important in my life then I should be just fine, hope you can all do the same too; just imagine what a fabulous world that would be. Have a wonderful Day! Isobial :)